Chapter 1

Elara

I stared out the window, watching my uncle pack the trunk of the car. I let out a slow sigh and looked around my empty bedroom.

I had lived with my uncle for the last nine years, ever since I was eleven. Now, at twenty, I was leaving the safety of his pack to go visit my mother.

As a werewolf, family drama is never simple. I left my old pack because my father was killed in a rogue attack while trying to protect me. His death broke my mother. She shut down, slept constantly, and eventually blamed me for what happened. After endless fighting, the Alpha stepped in. My uncle came to get me, promising I would return once my mother healed. I never did.

For years, she barely spoke to me. A five-minute phone call every few months was our routine. But last week, she showed up out of the blue with her second-chance mate.

I was shocked to find out her new mate was Alpha Silas, the leader of the Crescent Warriors a brutal pack known for training elite killers. Silas was polite enough. He told me he lost his first Luna years ago and had raised his two sons alone before finding my mother. But the whole visit felt off. My mother couldn’t stop staring at me, acting like we were a happy family just to impress her new Alpha husband.

Now, she wanted me to stay at their territory for a month.

“We are doing this for you,” my wolf, Nyx, grumbled in my head. “Not for her. A real mother doesn’t abandon her child when things get hard.”

Nyx had been on edge ever since the invitation arrived. She was protective. In fact, she had emerged when I was only eleven two years earlier than normal just to help me survive the rogue attack that killed my father. We both carried the scars of that night.

“I know,” I whispered back to her. “I just wish we didn’t have to go.”

My uncle was Alpha Victor, and he ran a good, safe pack. Here, I had a real life. I worked as a teacher’s assistant at the local school and trained the pack’s youth three times a week. Leaving my routine felt like a mistake, but my uncle believed this trip would give me closure. He promised I could come home whenever I wanted.

I grabbed my final bag, took one last look at my room, and headed downstairs.

Outside, my uncle was waiting with my two best friends, Wes and Carmen.

“You all set, Elara?” my uncle asked, pulling me into a warm hug. He kissed the top of my head. “Come home whenever you want. If your mother causes any trouble, you call me immediately.”

“I will, Uncle Victor. Thank you.”

Carmen and Wes stepped up next, wrapping their arms around me.

“A month isn’t that long,” I said, trying to convince myself.

“But your twenty-first birthday is this weekend,” Carmen pointed out, her face tight with worry. “You should be here with us. What if you find your mate out there?”

The thought made me tense up. In three days, I would turn twenty-one, the age when werewolves can finally sense their fated mates. Part of me was terrified. After watching how my father’s death destroyed my mother, I wasn’t sure I even wanted a mate bond.

“Yes, you do,” Nyx muttered. “Our mate will help us.”

Wes pulled me into a final hug. We had been close for years. We even hooked up in the past, and he was my first. Even though Wes was bisexual and dated around, he always said that if neither of us found our fated mates, we should just choose each other.

“Call me the second you get there,” Wes whispered. “I’ll drive out and get you myself if you want to leave.”

“I’ll be fine,” I promised, breaking the hug. “I have to deal with my mother alone.”

I climbed into the back of the waiting taxi. Uncle Victor walked up to the open window and gave me a reassuring smile. “Carmen is covering your youth training sessions while you’re gone. Good luck, Elara. The offer stands just call, and I’ll send a car to bring you home.”

“Thank you, Alpha.”

The driver pulled away from the curb. I waved out the window until my friends and uncle disappeared from view.

I leaned back against the seat and sighed. I was heading into unknown territory. I knew Alpha Silas had two sons. The oldest, Kaelen, was currently training to take over as the next Alpha, and the youngest was only seven. I wondered if they would hate me for intruding on their lives.

With a four-hour drive ahead of me, my mind was spinning with questions. I pulled my headphones out of my pocket, plugged them into my ears, and pressed play. I closed my eyes and let the music drown out my anxiety.